Ramprakash would welcome England recall - report

Mark Ramprakash has told England's selectors he would love the chance to help win the Ashes in next week's decisive final Test against Australia at The Oval.

Surrey batsman Ramprakash hasn't played Test cricket since 2002 after failing to fulfil his undoubted talent in the five-day game.

But the 39-year-old has been the most prolific runscorer on the English county scene for the last 10 years and that form has led to his name being mentioned as a potential replacement for England's under-performing middle-order ahead of a match his country must win to regain the Ashes.

Ravi Bopara, England's current number three, has scored 105 runs in seven innings, while Ian Bell has made 64 from three knocks at number four.

Paul Collingwood has also struggled and with Kevin Pietersen sidelined through injury, Andrew Strauss's team are short of in-form batsman.

England national selector Geoff Miller admitted on Wednesday that Ramprakash's name might come up at the forthcoming meeting to decide the final Test squad.

Ramprakash, who is averaging over 100 this season, found it hard to convert starts into big scores during his 52 Tests for England and has a Test average of 27.32.

But he insists he would have nothing to fear from a shock international recall because he is a much stronger personality these days.

"This Test match has been built up into a fantastic showpiece occasion, it's the sort of occasion that you cherish and savour," Ramprakash told BBC Sport.

"With the situation that happened at Headingley and the manner of the defeat, speculation whipped up into a storm really.

"It's come around quickly, but I'm no stranger to this. It's happened to me before. In the last two Ashes trips to Australia and in the last tour to Sri Lanka my name was linked to those trips and I felt I presented a very strong case to be selected for those trips.

"People seem to talk as though it's still 1995, but I think as a player and as a person you are constantly evolving, developing and improving. That's the way I've tried to go about my career, and I think my results in the last 10 years have been very good for Surrey.

"I have never made any comment because I believe it's up to the selectors to select the side and I've always tried to perform on the field and let those performances do my talking."